They came to tell your faults to me, They named them over one by one; I laughed aloud when they were done, I knew them all so well before,-- Oh, they were blind, too blind to see Your faults had made me love you more.”

Sunday, June 3, 2012

Those who love the most,Do not talk of their love,Francesca, Guinevere,Deirdre, Iseult, Heloise,In the fragrant gardens of heavenAre silent, or speak if at allOf fragile inconsequent things.

And a woman I used to knowWho loved one man from her youth,Against the strength of the fatesFighting in somber prideNever spoke of this thing,But hearing his name by chance,A light would pass over her face.

When Hera drove out to investigate the earth-shrouding cloud
that Zeus had created to cover his plan to seduce the river nymph Io, she drove
out in style. Her chariot was drawn by her favorite birds – peacocks – which in
those days, apparently, were rather dully colored -- at least as imagined in
this classic painting by Pieter Lastman.

After Zeus surrendered Io to Hera, she put the little
bovine goddess into the hands of the many-eyed Argus, who never fully slept. Hera
intended Argus to keep constant vigil so that Zeus could not reclaim his lover.
But this time, Zeus outwitted his clever wife, sending his son Hermes to lull
Argus to sleep by --depending on which version of the legend you read -- either playing soothing melodies on his flute or telling him stories. When Argus finally
closed his last eye, Hermes cut off his head.

According to legend, Hera then removed Argus’s eyes and
placed them into the tails of her peacocks, giving them the brilliant color
that we know today.

By Divine Ms. Moon

In astronomy, the many eyes of Argus are said to symbolize
the vault of the stars. The peacock is immortalized in the southern
constellation called Pavo, which literally means peacock in Latin.

Since those days, the peacock has developed something of a
reputation. I wonder if they were thinking of Zeus, as he approached the unwary Io in the meadow that fateful day.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

A friend of mine posted elsewhere today about a 70-year-old
woman who claims to be a virgin, and who has waited all this time for the
right man. Well, really, who hasn’t? But anyway, the woman claims that she is
now ready for love.

I don’t know what that thought does for you, but it made me
think of this poem by an anonymous Chinese author from the Ming Dynasty –

All night long, clouds pile up and wild
showers fall,

the intent lovers numb to time as night
passes.

As dew drips into the heart of her peony

her joints all melt and she cannot move.

Such heavy love, heavy love,

she falls into the Kingdom of Dreams!

By Divine Ms. Moon

*The term "Kingdom of Dreams" is said to refer to a mythical land called Hua Xu that the "Great Yellow Emperor" dreamed of visiting, where people lived "naturally and full of joy." In other words, a sort of Shangri-La. (T. Barnstone and C. Ping, trans. and ed., Chinese Erotic Poems (Everyman's 2007)).

In Greek mythology, Io was a lover of Zeus, who appeared to her in a cloud. When Zeus's wife Hera suddenly arrived on the scene of the seduction driving her peacock chariot, Zeus turned Io into a beautiful cow to conceal her from Hera. Not fooled for a minute, Hera asked Zeus to give her the cow, and Zeus was forced (by his own weakness) to surrender Io to Hera. The rest is a very entertaining legend for another day.

Jupiter's moon Io

showing the continuously present Prometheus Plume(near the shadow line at the center of the photo)

Every time I photograph this flower, which is common in tropical conservatories, as well as in my office lobby during certain months, someone accuses me of being too sexual. I just don't get that. I mean, seriously, Georgia O'Keeffe only painted flowers because she couldn't afford people, and no one ever accused her of being too sexual, did they?

Well. The point here is that sometimes a plant is just a plant. But this isn't one of them.

To Order Pizza

I am a Midwestern professional woman with a passion for laughter, art, literature, poetry, mythology, music, history, volcanoes, the natural world, pizza, the moon, and the stars. I have a grown daughter who aspires to be an artist, and whose works you may see here from time to time. I hope to share thoughts with people who have similar interests and don't mind a little nonsense.